“I'm doomed...” Byeol sighed.

“Huh? Why?” Yun answered, “we're going on a trip! It's exciting!”

“I'm going to be alone! You and Hongbin are in the other classes and you're going to be together, but my class is going with the seniors! I don't want to go...”

“You don't want to go anywhere anyway...” Yun rolled her eyes.

Byeol sighed out loud and lay her head on the table while she was playing with her pen and scribbling something on her copybook. It was lunch break and after they were done eating, they stayed at the cafeteria to do their homework they hadn't done at home the night before. The students around them were talking about the upcoming trip to the mountains and they were all more or less happy about it. Byeol seemed to be the only complaining. Yet, she had tried to convince her parents not to send her, but they refused, her mother saying that it would be great for her to take part of one of the school's activity for once. “A six-day-long trip isn't going to kill you,” she had said.

“When are you going?” Yun asked her after a while.

“In two weeks, just before Christmas.”

Since the school couldn't bring all the students at once at the location, they had separated them into two groups and they were planning on taking them at different times. Byeol's group was leaving the week before Christmas while Yun's group was leaving the week following New Year.

“I'm sure it's going to be fun, even for you, and you're not completely alone... you've got your classmates with you and the seniors. It's probably going to be even funnier than ours, since we are with the little, cute and innocent juniors.”

“At least you have friends with you... I don't.”

“What about Taekwoon sunbae? And Hakyeon sunbae too?”

“The first one is my step-brother's friend and the other one doesn't even know who I am...”

Yun bit her lower lip and tried hard not to smile. Happily for her, Byeol didn't look at her at this moment.

“Hongbin is coming this way!”

Byeol raised her head and her brother sat next to her, Wonshik who was with him sitting next to Yun.

“Are we bothering you?” the flower boy asked his sister, “oh... you are working.”

“What are you talking about?” Yun chuckled, “she's been complaining about the trip. She's not working at all.”

“You're still thinking about this?” he laughed.

“I don't want to go!” she whined.

Wonshik frowned and asked for further explanations at Hongbin, but his friend told him he would explain later.

“Have you already eaten?”

“Hum,” Byeol nodded.

“And what are you doing right now?”

“I'm trying to do my physics homework but I really can't do it... it's too hard...”

“Oh... sorry I can't help you... I'm not good at physics.”

“Me neither,” Wonshik shrugged.

Byeol sighed and put her head back on the table, ignoring Hongbin's conversation he had with Yun and Wonshik.

“Oh! Taekwoon hyung! Come here!” Wonshik suddenly stopped talking and waved.

Byeol frowned and turned around but when she actually saw Taekwoon coming toward them, a tray in his hands, she quickly looked away. The senior took place next to Hongbin, bowing his head to greet everyone.

“Did you only go out of your lessons?” Hongbin smiled.

“Hum, the teacher wanted to talk about the trip.”

“Oh! Yes! You're going with Byeol,” he smiled and Byeol elbowed him to make him stop, yet, it only made him smile more.

Taekwoon looked at the young girl over her step-brother's shoulder but she did her best to avoid his gaze.

“Hum,” he nodded, “we're going together.”

“It would have been good if we were going all together,” Wonshik sighed.

“Well, we can still go together during the holidays,” Hongbin spoke, “our parents have a cabin in Bongpyeong-myeon, we can ask them if we can all go there, maybe they'll agree.”

“It's a good idea! Would you be coming with us, Byeol?” Wonshik smiled and looked at her.

“Obviously no,” she shook her head.

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Anyway, I'll talk about this to our parents,” Hongbin concluded, “hey, hyung, you're good at physics, right? Byeol is doing her homework but she has troubles with physics, can you perhaps help her?”

Byeol suddenly jumped and glared at her brother.

“N-no no! It's not like this!”

“I can take a look at it if you want.”

“No it's alright, I'm done!” Like a miracle, the bell rang. “I-I must go anyway, I have classes right now.”

She didn't even take the time to put her books and copybooks into her bag, she took it all in her hands and she bowed her head before rushing out of the room.

“Have... have I done something wrong?” Taekwoon asked.

“No, nothing at all,” Hongbin sighed and smiled to reassure his friend, “it's just Byeol... you know how she is...”

Taekwoon nodded and looked at the door where Byeol had just disappeared.

“I know her,” he said.

*

“Teacher,” Hyuk smiled, entered the room and bowed at his maths teacher.

“Sanghyuk! You actually came! That's good!” the woman smiled, “Hongbin,” she called her student who was still in the room despite the class to be over, “come here for a second please.”

He left his desk, put his bag on his back and came closer to them.

“Hongbin, let me introduce you to Han Sanghyuk, he is a junior.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hongbin grinned at the boy, “I'm Lee Hongbin, eleventh grade.”

“Nice to meet you too sunbae,” Hyuk bowed his head.

“Sanghyuk has troubles with maths, and I thought you could help him since you're the best student of my class. What do you think about this?” the teacher asked the older.

“I can do this.”

“I told you he would accept,” she playfully laughed, “Hongbin is really a nice boy. I'll let you two discuss about how you want to arrange your timetable. I'll be going now.”

She took her bag and left.

“You don't have to do it if you don't want to,” Sanghyuk told Hongbin, “I won't mind at all.”

“Don't worry, I'll do it. Give me your phone.”

“Huh?” Hyuk frowned.

“Your phone.”

Hyuk took the device out of his pocket and handed his phone at the older boy. A few seconds later, Hongbin gave it back to him.

“You'll find my number among your contacts, I really have to go now. Just send me a message when you want it.”

Hongbin winked, smiled and left the room, leaving Hyuk dumbfounded alone.

*

The following days went by rather smoothly according to Byeol. Nobody bothered her with the trip to the mountains and since she had quite a lot of homework, she spent a lot of time in her books and at the library.

Yet, when Thursday came, after the school was over, she stayed inside the building

as usual. She went to the music room, sat by the piano and looked for a piece to play inside her phone. She was tired and yet, just being near a piano was making her feel much better.

She let her bag and blazer on the sofa at the back of the room, and put her phone on the piano, yet, she didn't call Ryeowook for once. She didn't feel like it was actually useful to call him this day: she wasn't in the mood.

She finally chose to play Lie by Big Bang, one of her favorite group. It wasn't a difficult song to play, but she loved it anyway. At first she only played the first parts and when the chorus came, she unconsciously sang it since she knew the song by heart and had played it multiple times. Byeol wasn't a good rapper, so she skipped all the rap parts and she concentrated on the piano at those moments. The song was perfect to show how skilled she was.

And while she was really into the song and she was little by little forgetting the time was still flying and that she was still at school for a precise reason, the door suddenly opened. She stopped, her fists knocking the keys which created a loud and annoying sound, and turned around. Cha Hakyeon stood in the middle of the room, staring at her like hypnotized: his eyes were wide open and his month sightly opened. He opened it more, as if he was going to speak, but no sounds came out. Byeol started to panic and she stood up, the seat falling on the ground. Her vision became blurry and breathing was hard all of a sudden, so she quickly picked up her bag from the ground, bumped into the head boy which was as frozen as a statue and she left, running away. However she stopped outside once she met the rain and the cold wind.

“...” she cursed, “I forgot my blazer and my phone...”

She wanted to go back and pick it up, but she was too scared to face Cha Hakyeon. Had he heard her? And since when was he listening to her? How did he found her since normally the corridor was empty at a such time of the day? She wanted answers yet was scared of it. She left the school, ignoring the bad weather and walked back home.

The road was long and because of the rain, it was even longer and harder. And as if Byeol wasn't unlucky enough, she only realized she hadn't her keys to enter the house, since it was always in the inside pocket of her blazer which she had left at school. And usually, there was always another key hidden under the flower pot just next the door, but since Hongbin had lost his own keys a few days ago, he had taken those from the flower pot.

Byeol was left on the doorstep, and she didn't have her phone with her since she also had forgotten it at school. She knew her mother and step-father were stuck at work because of an emergency, her mother had sent her a text earlier to warn her, and Hongbin was somewhere in town with Wonshik. Because she couldn't do anything much, she sat in front of the door, brought her knees against her chest and put her head on it, listening to the sound of the rain which was falling on the ground and looking at the sky where the stars were appearing. She was cold and soaking wet and since she was a wimp, she knew she was probably going to be sick and it didn't really bother her if she was going to be stuck in her bed with fever for the trip to the mountains: it would be a great excuse. Yet, she knew it wasn't going to happen. And the darkness wasn't something she really liked either.

So when a car which was driving slowly stopped in front of her house, she started to panic even more. The car door opened and she stood up, ready to run away.

“Byeol!”

Through the fog made by the rain she first saw a tall silhouette and a black umbrella, but as it come closer, she recognized Taekwoon.

“Taekwoon sunbae,” she smiled a bit weakly, but smiled.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, putting the umbrella over both of them.

“I... I don't have my keys or my phone and nobody's home...” she had to raise her voice for him to hear her correctly.

“Really?” she nodded, “come with me. I'll take you to my house.”

“W-what?”

“You can't stay here alone under the rain.”

He took her hand in his and gently pushed her toward his car. Inside, because of the contrast of heat, she shivered and her body started to shake even though she tried hard to hide it.

“Don't worry,” Taekwoon told her, “we're going to be there soon.”

She trusted him.

Chapter six ! 

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xx

Mae.